Hopkins Dining is partnering with four local vendors to bring a coffee shop, a full-service restaurant, and four quick-service food stalls to the new student center set to open this fall on Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus.
"We've ended up with a great selection from across the Baltimore landscape," says Matt Moss, assistant vice provost for Hopkins Dining and auxiliary services. "We were very intentional about going local and really being able to celebrate the restaurant scene here in Baltimore. ... Food is such an emotional tie to your community. We hope these partners bring that taste of home."
More than 100 local food vendors were considered for the opportunity to be a part of the student center. Finalists came to Homewood campus in March for a food expo, where more than 200 Hopkins students, staff, and faculty members sampled select dishes and voted for their favorites.
The student center's food hall will be located on its first floor, with seating for 150 people. The restaurant, named Mo's Place in honor of 1957 JHU graduate and former board of trustees chair Morris Offit, will be on the third floor with a pathway connecting it directly to the Brody Learning Commons.
"When students are finished studying for the day, they can pop over to Mo's and grab a bite," Moss says. "They can just relax for a minute, have an opportunity to socialize. It's been really well positioned to give students a break."
All student center vendors will accept Dining Dollars in addition to credit cards.
The selected vendors are:
Koshary
Iman Moussa is no stranger to Homewood. For years, students have ventured just southwest of campus for her R House food stall, Koshary Corner, and its plant-forward, Mediterranean-inspired menu. The business takes its name and signature dish from Egypt's most popular street food, the koshary bowl, which combines rice, lentils, pasta, tomato sauce, chickpeas, and fried onions.
"It's one of my favorite foods ever," Moussa says. "I was astounded that it didn't exist anywhere close to me, so I was like, 'OK, let's fix this problem.'"
Koshary Corner was founded to promote sustainable food and compassion for the planet, with a particular emphasis on vegan dishes. The team has since expanded to serve halal meat, meaning its Hopkins menu will include beef and chicken shawarma alongside Egyptian-style falafel and a variety of eggplant dishes.
Hopkins students already make up a large portion of Koshary Corner's customer base, according to Moussa. By opening a food stall on the Homewood campus, she hopes her team will be able to support this group even more effectively.
"We are very grateful and proud that we are well known at Hopkins," Moussa says. "I didn't realize that until we opened at R House, and the first summer our revenue declined significantly. I was like, 'Oh, what happened?' and then I discovered that everyone from Hopkins was on summer vacation!"
Connie's
Growing up, brothers Shawn and Khari Parker saw firsthand how their mother, Connie, could bring people together through her cooking. Those memories serve as the main inspiration for their restaurant, Connie's Chicken and Waffles, which will launch its third location, at Hopkins.
"As part of our evolution, we've updated our name to simply Connie's," Shawn Parker says. "Our concept has grown far beyond chicken and waffles."
In addition to Connie's signature dish, the JHU location will offer chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, wings, fish, and breakfast sandwiches. This menu will undergo further adjustments once the team gets more familiar with the Hopkins community.
"This is more than just a new location for us. It's a chance to contribute to campus life, serve great food, and be a part of something meaningful," Shawn Parker says. "Hopkins is a world-class institution with strong ties to Baltimore, and this partnership means a lot to us as a homegrown business."
Added Moss: "We know the desire that many students have for great chicken tenders. It seems to be a fan favorite. So finding a partner in Connie's, where really that's their expertise, was a great fit."
Tim Ma Hospitality
In 2005, Tim Ma graduated from Hopkins with a master's degree in electrical engineering. Now, 20 years later, the founder of Tim Ma Hospitality is returning as a full-fledged restaurateur. Under his guidance, Ma's team will open three new concepts in the student center: a fast-casual Chinese-American food stall, a coffee shop, and a full-service restaurant named Mo's Place.
"It's exciting to be able to go back and do something with the university, just not as an engineer," Ma said in an interview with the Hub.
During his time away from Hopkins, Ma helped open roughly 15 restaurants and bars, cooked at the White House, and co-founded the nonprofit Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate. He also opened a restaurant and a bar at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., so he's ready to hit the ground running at JHU's new student center.
"We're always differentiating between what we do on campus and what we do just out normally," Ma said. "I come from a fine-dining background, and so it is interesting to have the challenge of approaching food from [the college] perspective and the fine-dining perspective, understanding that the client is completely different with a different set of intentions when they eat. We're trying to find that happy medium where we're putting out something that we're super proud of while trying to meet a price point that the college student can afford."
Urban Kitchen
In 2017, Jasmine Norton became the first Black woman to open an oyster bar in the United States, the Urban Oyster, in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood. Now, she's bringing her groundbreaking talents to the Homewood campus by launching the Urban Kitchen.
Norton has long prided herself on serving high-quality food in relaxing and unpretentious ways, a practice she plans to continue at the student center. Beyond its well-tested burgers and chicken sandwiches, the Urban Kitchen's menu will include smoked brisket banh mi, oyster mushroom fritters, and broccoli caesar salad.
"Urban Kitchen brings a true Baltimore flavor into their cooking," Moss says. "Having people celebrate that connection to the city is really important."
Norton says that she was approached directly by Moss and Hopkins Dining about opening a food stall at the student center.
"They set the bar high," Norton says. "To even have the thoughtfulness to reach back to the community and local business owners—I have absolutely loved our experience. I've loved how thoughtful they've been in this entire process, how much I've already learned being a small business, self-taught chef. ... I know that I'll gain even more just from working with the dining department of Johns Hopkins."
Posted in University News, Student Life
Tagged food, dining, student center
